Simon Fraser Holds Slim Lead After Day One at 2019 WCWA Championships

After a day of action at the WCWA Championships there were some upsets, as to be expected, but overall most of the favorites advanced to Saturday morning’s semifinals. All week we stressed that this year’s crop of freshmen was incredible and they would prove that the hype was justified, with 10 of the 40 semifinalists in their first year. Two of the three returning national champions advanced, Dominique Parrish (Simon Fraser) and Andribeth Rivera (Campbellsville), while Paige Baynes (Wayland Baptist) was disqualified in the quarterfinals and will not get a chance to become a four-time All-American. Baynes is the only number one seed that has taken a loss, thus far.

With a regular season that saw the favorites in the team race shift from Wayland Baptist, to McKendree, to Menlo, a tight close competition was expected. What may have surprised some fans was that Simon Fraser was atop the standings (134.5 points). As usual, the Clan flew under the radar since they do not compete very often against the rest of the WCWA teams. SFU has placed six women in the semifinals and have three left on the back side. Second place Menlo is only two and a half points behind Simon Fraser with 132. McKendree is in third place (130 points) and leads all teams with seven wrestlers in the semis, though two of them, Theresa Rankin and Felicity Taylor, will meet at 116 lbs. Emmanuel is lurking behind the top three with six wrestlers in the semis and 118 points.